Spicy Southern Hot Corn

Every Thanksgiving my husband begs for this Spicy Southern Hot Corn! This sassy Southern-style recipe has been part of our holiday meal tradition for years and doubles as a side dish AND a dip. Get ready to rock those parties and potlucks and be sure to have the recipe handy – people will totally harass you for it!

So… it’s super duper common for this dish to be served appetizer-style with a mountain of tortilla chips or a fresh fluffy baguette. If you search “Hot Corn” on Pinterest it’s literally ALL that comes up!

Don’t get me wrong, my husband and I will GLADLY inhale this dish with either delivery method but I’ve got to say, my favorite way to eat this spicy creamed corn is alongside a plateful of holiday sides and mains.

We typically make it with Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner and there’s something so magical about throwing caution to the wind and ignoring any semblance of food spacing on our plates. If I can push a little mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and stuffing into every bite of hot corn I’ve basically won at life. The creamy, spicy corn is at perfect harmony with the savory carbalicious stuffing, tart cranberry sauce, and buttery mashed potatoes. It’s even great on chicken and/or turkey too.

Everything. It’s great with everything!

Ok seriously, just writing up this post has me dying to reheat the last cup of leftover hot corn. I made it early so I could snap some photos for this post, but I’m not allowed to eat another bite of of the creamy, spicy deliciousness because I promised it to Paul already.

Hmmm… Maybe I’ll eat it and then make it again tonight before he gets home tonight… YES!

Spicy southern hot corn for everyone!

make-ahead + leftover tips

This spicy hot corn makes a fabulous make-ahead dish for the holidays (and the most EPIC leftovers of my life) so feel free to prep it the night before!

To reheat you have three options depending on oven/stovetop availability. I like to take the hot corn out of the fridge about 30-60 minutes ahead of time to thaw a little. This will help it cook up faster!

Cover with foil (to prevent over-browning) or an oven-safe lid and bake at 350 F for approx. 20 minutes.

Re-heat on the stove over low heat, covered. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

Microwave until hot and bubbly!

Spicy Southern Hot Corn

Whether you go the appetizer route or whip this up as an easy peasy side dish, this spicy southern hot corn is sure to rock your plate! Make it as spicy or as mild as your heart desires.

One Thanksgiving I made it so spicy that I’m pretty sure people started sweating and fanning their faces. It was totally worth it!

Recipe Notes

As written above this dish is quite mild in spice/heat. We like it spicy, so each time I taste before baking, then add 2-3 TBSP of HOT green salsa ( this brand is everything!) and some extra jalapeño. If you can handle the heat, totally follow suit! We love this dish as spicy as we can get it!

No bell peppers handy? Feel free to use canned Mexi-corn, which has diced bell peppers mixed in with the corn.

This makes a fabulous make-ahead dish for any occasion so feel free to prep it all the night before and bake when you're ready the next day! Simply cover with foil (to prevent over-browning) and bake away. Enjoy!

If you get a chance to try this spicy southern hot corn, let me know! You can leave me a comment here (LOVE checking those daily!) or tag @PEASandCRAYONS on Instagram so I can happy dance over your creations. I can’t wait to see what you whip up!

Kaye W

Wow. RESPECT. That’s the best corn dish I’ve ever made, thank you! I used jarred roasted red bell pepper instead of fresh because my red bell was used the night before. Besides that did everything the same, although a tablespoon or two of bacon fat might have been involved — it was sitting around so why not. Oh, I added a diced onion too. Man oh man, so good, thank you.

Ramona Ham

Shauna

This corn dip is one of my go-to recipes when I have a potluck to attend (along with a few of your other recipes). The ingredient list is short, but the flavor is to die for! People think I’m crazy when they see me spoon out a huge serving as soon as I sat the bowl down, but it is always the first dish emptied so if I don’t do it then I might miss out. My toddler even requested this as a side at her birthday party recently so I served it up with some tortilla chips. It has just the right amount of spice as written, in my opinion. I love that I can rely on your recipes turning out perfectly every time! Thank you!

Diana

If you plan on baking any longer than 20 minutes I for sure would! When I do a short bake I don’t, but sometime I’ll leave it in longer until we need the dish and then I for sure cover it to prevent it from over-browning on top <3 Hope this helps Diana and that you adore the recipe!

Caitlyn Miller

Hi Jenn!

i LOVE THIS RECIPE-HAVE MADE IT FOR ME AND MY BOYFRIEND TWICE WHICH I JUST CUT EVERYTHING IN HALF!

hOWEVER THIS TIME AROUND i AM MAKING THIS DISH AS A SIDE DISH FOR MY THANKSGIVING DINNER AND WAS CURIOUS ABOUT THE SERVING AMOUNT. yOUR RECIPE SAYS THAT IT HAS 6 SERVINGS…HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES IT FEED? i WILL HAVE ABOUT 20-25 PEOPLE AND WOULD ALSO LIKE TO HAVE SOME LEFTOVER HAHA SINCE IT IS SO YUMMY!

PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW MUCH i SHOULD MAKE-STICK TO THE ORIGINAL AMOUNT OR DOUBLE IT??

Hey Caitlyn! So happy to hear y’all are loving it – this is one of our favorite recipes this time of year and we do the same by making extras so we have leftovers! If everyone takes a nice scoop it’s going to feed 6 people a serving each, so I’d say go all out and quadruple the recipe so you have enough for everyone and a little to squirrel away for the next day. Hope y’all have an amazing Thanksgiving! 🙂

Jeff

I’m just brainstorming… I was looking for a side dish for some fish tacos I was going to try to make while camping, this might be good, but the lack of an oven is a deal breaker. Best I can do is a big lodge dutch oven over fire. I’m wondering if I could use your exact recipe, except add some flour and a couple eggs to make fritters and fry them in oil in the dutch oven over the fire… hmmmm…

Hey Jeff! This would be a fun camping recipe for sure! Dutch oven over the fire or even a good ole cast iron skillet would do the trick – The only reason I pop it in the oven is to keep it warm for company and melt the extra sprinkle of cheese on top so you can for sure tweak it for over the fire 🙂 As for the fritters, I’m not sure on measurements and such to transform them into fritters but that sounds like a super fun way to use up leftover hot corn! Happy camping!

Tom

Hi Tom, thanks! You absolutely could. It wont take much time at all so totally forego the typical 4-6 hour instructions many crockpot recipes give. I feel like this bad boy would be done much sooner and you wouldn’t want the dairy to scorch or curdle. Also, add the grated cheese at the end.

Hi Debbie! It for sure has a little kick to it (nothing insane but young palates would notice it) so you would want to leave out both the pickled and the fresh jalapeños here. Instead use some extra minced bell pepper (red bell pepper is the sweetest) if you’d like and you’re good to go! 🙂

Natalie

Hi Natalie! It’s so quick to make that I haven’t attempted freezing it yet. Because of the dairy content the texture may change when frozen and reheated, but the dish will keep for 4 days in the fridge and tastes great the next day!

Jess Wright @ The Cookbook Obsession

This looks like a dish my Aunt makes for all our get together’s. We simply call it “The Corn”. This looks like a BETTER version 🙂 I can’t wait to try it and maybe have a little family corn showdown lol!

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